The body slumped to the floor, lifeless as blood dripped from the wound in its head. The previously white wall and carpet were now painted with crimson spots. Before he walked out the silent hotel room, Jonghyun glanced back, looking at Minho’s open, glassy eyes.

The image burned itself into his memory as he walked out the hotel and into the bustling streets covered in snow. The further he got away, the more the ache in his chest resided. Just as he ducked into a taxi, an ambulance, and several police cars flew past.

“The flight to Tokyo is boarding now, passengers please present your ticket and necessary documents to the desk in the correct terminal.”

Though a large scarf covered his face, Jonghyun still recognized him. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was running through the hoards of people, pushing the ones that didn’t move out his way. No matter how many times he called Minho’s name, the man never turned around, his head bobbing lightly to the music coming from the headphones in his ear. 

When Jonghyun stopped running, someone accidentally bumped into Minho, knocking his iPod from his hands and the headphones from his ears. When he turned to glare at the culprit, he locked eyes with Jonghyun who was right behind him. A slow smile started to spread across his face until Jonghyun shoved a note into his hand. The smile was short lived and a grimace took it’s place.

“I knew you wouldn’t take this well…” Minho muttered, Jonghyun staring wide-eyed at the other man in disbelief. “For god's sake Jonghyun, you’re marrying Taeyeon in two months!” He shouted, raising his hands, which caused bypassers to stare as they passed the two men. Jonghyun ignored them and willed his eyes to keep their cold glare, though he could feel tears coming.

“If you wouldn’t have left in the middle of the ing night, I would’ve told you that I declined my parent’s wishes.” Jonghyun sighed, getting a grip on his emotions momentarily. Minho’s eyes widened and he looked down at the floor. They stood in silence for a few moments until Minho looked back up.

“I have a plane to catch.” He whispered, the words barely reaching Jonghyun as Minho strode off into the thralls of the crowd, quickly getting lost. 

“I love you.” 

Looking at his watch, Jonghyun fished his phone from his pocket and opened up the photos, staring at the ones of him and Minho. Sighing, he deleted them all from the phone. Reaching into his other pocket, he pulled out Minho’s cell phone. When he picked it up at the hotel, all of the contacts had already been deleted. As the taxi drove across a bridge, he turned the device on and rolled down the window, throwing the cell phone into the river below.

XxXxXxXxX

“This is your next assignment Kim. Don’t screw it up.” Changmin sighed, handing Jonghyun a folder of information and a picture of his next target. Nodding, he walked out of Changmin’s office, not missing the look of interest the man gave him before he closed the door. Curious as to who his next job was, he opened the folder. Changmin nodded in his chair when he heard the sound of the envelope hit the floor.

Choi Minho 
 

XxXxXxXxX

After Minho left, Jonghyun bowed down and married Taeyeon, taking over his father’s company. Unbeknownst to everyone in the business realm, the reason he was wealthy wasn’t because of the profit and success of his father’s business. No, that money was put into an account for Taeyeon to spend. The bulk of his money came from the jobs Changmin had been giving him over the past few years.

He’d stopped taking assignments while dating because somehow Minho found out and demanded that he stop.

“You kill people for a living Jonghyun. How do you live with that?” Minho asked, tossing the locked gun across the kitchen table when Jonghyun came in late one night. 

“The same way my father and yours live with bankrupting companies and showing them no mercy,” Jonghyun answered simply, removing his shoes at the door. Caught off guard by his answer, Minho was left speechless. 

When Jonghyun climbed into bed, later that night, he heard Minho mumbling in his sleep.

“Please stop. I don’t want to lose you.”

XxXxXxXxX

A high pitch whine filled Jonghyun’s ear, startling him from his sleep. When he looked down to the floor, his daughter Amber stood quietly sniffing. Not even bothering to ask the little girl what was wrong, he lifted up the covers, patting the section of bed front of him. She beamed brightly and climbed in, also pulling her ragged stuffed rabbit with her as Jonghyun situated the covers back. Within a few minutes, the little girl snuggled into her father’s chest and slept quietly. 

Due to his other engagements, he rarely spent time at home, and in turn spent less time with his daughter. Her father’s absence didn’t seem to bother her much, but the nights when her father slept at home, Amber found excuses to sleep in the bed with her parents. Jonghyun couldn’t blame her and when he thought about it, he grew up the same way though his father didn’t believe in coddling children.

Children were to be disciplined, educated and groomed to be heirs or wives of heirs, nothing more.

XxXxXxXxX

“Your target will be spending the night in the large hotel uptown. He’s avoiding his father, so he decided to stay at the family rival’s hotel. From the conversations we’ve tapped, he’s cut off all contact with his family. It’s been this way for two years, something happened and now he’s unguarded. This is the perfect opportunity to finish your job.” Changmin explained as he briefed Jonghyun and Taemin, the newbie they’d picked to assist him. When Changmin was done, Jonghyun nodded and turned in his chair to stare at his ‘partner’ 

“How old are you Taemin?” Jonghyun inquired. Though a thick fringe of brown hair covered his face, he could still see that Taemin was still young. His face had a roundness and youthfulness that Jonghyun hadn't seen in a long time.

“18.” His voice shocked Jonghyun at how deep it was since he’d only pegged Taemin for 16 at most. Not caring to ask any more questions, Jonghyun rose from his seat and walked to his office, making the necessary arrangements.

“You’ll secure a maid uniform and unlock his room. Make sure this is done precisely between 8:45 pm and 9:15 pm because he has a meeting with his classmates from college and he’s not a heavy drinker, so he’ll be back around that time.” Taemin raised an eyebrow at the information but decided not to question Jonghyun and nodded.

XxXxXxXxX

When Taeyeon found out she was pregnant, everyone was overjoyed. Even Jonghyun found himself in an unusually good mood. He was going to be a father and though he didn’t love Taeyeon the way he should've, he knew he would love their child.

The news spread quickly and even owners and CEO’s of other companies sent their congratulations. They were obvious ploys to up to him, but his good mood let him overlook that.

The moment Choi Minhyung sent his congratulations to Jonghyun, a pit feeling in his gut told him that Minho knew. Even though it shouldn’t have felt like his ribs were collapsing into his lungs, it did. It was like he could feel the pain Minho was feeling as he laid his head on his desk, having no idea that the pounding in his head and heart were matching the same rhythm the other man was using to turn his knuckles into bloody pulp as he took his anger and jealousy out on a brick wall.   

That’s when Minho cut off all ties with his family. He ignored every call from his father and mother and even avoided his brother’s attempts to reach him. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone and when his father froze his accounts, he opened another and continued to live and wander the world with the money he’d saved from small jobs here and there. 

XxXxXxXxX

Dressed down in black jeans and a black button-up, Jonghyun blended right in with the rest of the plainly dressed guests. The ride up to Minho’s floor was slow and as Jonghyun leaned against the wall of the elevator, he started to second guess himself. 

Was he really about to kill the man he’d loved in cold blood? Couldn’t he just walk away and wipe his hands clean of this case and let Changmin send in someone else to finish the job? Before more questions could crowd his head, the elevator dinged and opened up to Jonghyun’s destination. 

A text from Taemin vibrated softly in his pocket. 

It confirmed that the room number was 1342, the door was unlocked and that Minho hadn't arrived yet. Jonghyun nodded to himself and stopped at the right door, slipping inside. Though there were bags strewn on the bed, the room was still neat. It was comforting to know that though feelings changed, people really didn’t. Minho was still the same neat freak he’d always been.

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Jonghyun familiarized himself with his surroundings, memorizing every square inch of the room. Like clockwork, the moment he settled in his hiding place, Minho unlocked the door and stepped inside. Watching from the inside of the closet, Jonghyun examined Minho’s face, marveling at how he’d aged visually. 

Though much younger than Jonghyun, his outward appearance looked much older than in the past years. After a few minutes of struggling to pay attention to the TV, Jonghyun watched Minho fiddle with his phone. Once he was bored, Minho got up and walked around the rather large room. Standing by the wall directly across from the closet, he held his breath and stood completely still. Jonghyun’s heart froze in his chest and he also held his breath.

“Finish your job. What are you waiting for Jonghyun?” Minho called out in an even voice, though his lips trembled. Jonghyun shrugged and stepped from his hiding place, pointing the barrel of his gun directly at Minho’s head. The younger man laughed and held up his hands, dropping the innumerable pills that were in them. Judging by their color, they were sleeping pills and by the way a blue chalky substance clung to Minho’s hand probably from sweat, he had been planning to take all of them. 

“How did you know?” Jonghyun whispered, afraid that he already knew what Minho was going to say.

“I requested this myself. You see in these past few years, I’ve lost just about everything I have. The only thing I still have is my mind."
The words hit Jonghyun in the chest, stabbing at his heart until the hand that held the gun shook. 

“Why?” Jonghyun asked again, his emotions starting to get the better of him. Minho shrugged and frowned.

“Can we make this quick? I’m sick of the small talk. Either you shoot me, or I'll grab the gun and do it myself. You pick.” Minho spat, his words seeped with venom. Taking a deep breath, Jonghyun stared at the other man.

“Why are you doing this? If you would’ve just st-“

“Shut the up Jonghyun and shoot me! I’m sick of living! I’m sick of everyone and everything! I called on the last person I could trust to please do me this last favor. Since I can’t have your heart, can I at least ask for this?”  Minho shouted, looking at the floor. When he looked back up to meet Jonghyun’s glassy stare, his eyes were filled with unshed tears. 

The once prideful man that’d loved him was now reduced to a begging pleading mess and Jonghyun couldn’t take the sight anymore. He aimed at Minho’s head and pulled the trigger.

When the bullet left the gun, time seemed to slow and Jonghyun could’ve sworn he saw Minho mouth thank you before the bullet went through his skull, the blood splattering drop by drop. Minho immediately dropped to his knees and went limp on the floor.

“You still had my heart,” Jonghyun whispered, unscrewing the silencer and securing the gun. Putting everything back into their place, Jonghyun picked up Minho’s phone. 

Pain throbbed in his chest and Jonghyun had to take another calming breath. 

XxXxXxXxX

The following morning, his daughter sat by his side, playing with his hair.

“Daddy? Mommy said to get up and come eat dinner.” Jonghyun opened his eyes and stared at the girl who was almost an exact replica of himself. He nodded, leaning up and right before Amber ran to her mother, he picked her up and sat her on his lap.

“Daddy’s staying home today,” Jonghyun explained, smiling as Amber’s face lit up and she grinned from ear to ear. Once she’d left to allow him to use the bathroom, he picked up his phone and called Changmin.

“Job well done. I have an-“

“I quit. This time, I’m telling you the truth. I’m done.” Jonghyun cut him off and hung up.

On the other side of the line, Changmin put down the phone, smirking.

A/N: 

I rarely write SHINee fics, so consider this a limited addition type of story from me. A friend of my that I've been following on tumblr for 3 years asked me to write this a while back, so if you enjoyed the story, you have her to thank ^^ 

You know the drill already, please comment and upvote :D